Blazing a trail: Freeman making history on the mat for Mules

It’s halfway through the wrestling season, and Poplar Bluff High School junior Zoe Freeman continues to blaze a trail for the Lady Mules wrestling team.

Coming into the season, Freeman said her main goal was to be better and take her wrestling career to heights she’d never seen before. So far, she has found her stride on the mat and set a new standard for girls wrestling.

“The season has been going well,” Freeman said. “I think practices have been a lot better here lately. There’s been a lot more focus on all the things that I’ve been working on. I’ve been training nonstop, just taking it one match at a time.”

Though everything has gone as planned for Freeman as she sets her sights on getting back to the state tournament, this season has been an emotional one. After coming up short at state, Freeman said she felt disappointed for allowing the pressure to get to her. Now more refocused, her goal is to go the distance this year and give everything she has on the mat.

Freeman said head wrestling coach Kelton Thompson has been one of her biggest motivators since she got into wrestling, and she would like to make him proud this season.

“Ever since I’ve stepped on the mat, Coach Thompson has always just been in my corner,” Freeman said. “He’s been there since the very first time that I ever went to a wrestling practice. My mission has always been to make him proud of me and to show him that his belief in me didn’t go unnoticed. I need to make this season count because he’s been one of the big reasons I’ve been successful and why I’ve been able to accomplish things I have. He believed in me. This year, my main focus has been going all out just for him.”

Thompson said that Freeman has been a true trailblazer for the girl’s program and that he couldn’t ask for a better competitor and hard worker than her.

Freeman captured a few impressive accolades on her quest to achieve greatness at this year’s state wrestling tournament. She recently placed first in the 2024 SEMO Conference Tournament for the third time and was named the SEMO Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Female Wrestler award for the second consecutive year. Freeman has also inked her name into the Poplar Bluff wrestling history book by becoming the first girl to win 100 matches.

Going into high school, Freeman mentally made a checklist of all the things she wanted to accomplish in wrestling, and reaching 100 wins was at the top, next to making state.

“I’ve been checking each one off as I go down,” she said. “Getting 100 wins was one of my biggest goals because no girl had ever come close to hitting that number. I knew that I was capable of reaching it, so to actually get there my junior year feels amazing.”

Despite reaching a huge milestone for the Lady Mules wrestling team, Freeman is more focused on cleaning up the mistakes she’s made in the past on the mat. She said this season, it’s all about having a clear mind when she wrestles. In the past, Freeman would study her opponents, check their records and match history. Now more confident, she’s only worrying about her game on the mat instead of her competitor.

After making back-to-back trips to the wrestling state tournament, Freeman said the pressure she felt in the past is long gone. She looks to advance further than before and is eyeing a spot at the top of the podium.

“I want to do better than I have in years past,” Freeman said. “It’s been like a lot of pressure, where I froze up a little bit, but this year, I want to make it to the finals. That’s the big goal. If I make it to the finals, I’d be the second person in Poplar Bluff history to make it to the finals. That’s my big goal right now. It’s just to get into that final match.”